Christian Halmøy Torgersen, COO Andfjord Salmon, and Andreas Bollingmo, Sales Director Previwo.
Photo: Previwo.
Intending to further strengthen fish health and production quality at its land-based facility in Kvalnes, Andøya, Norwegian aquaculture company Andfjord Salmon has entered into a three-year partnership agreement with the also Norwegian Previwo.
As part of the collaboration, the biotechnology company dedicated to improving fish health in the aquaculture industry will supply the probiotic product Stembiont to Andfjord Salmon.
Based on over ten years of research into natural marine bacteria—a research initiated by Professor Henning Sørum at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)—this probiotic solution is designed to support the salmon's biological functions and contribute to improved fish health.
As Previwo describes, a probiotic product contains live microorganisms (often bacteria) that can have a positive effect on health when consumed in sufficient quantities—"essentially a kind of Yakult for fish," the company explains, referring to the Japanese probiotic drink based on fermented milk.
On its website, the company also says that, while in nature, fish live in close contact with a wide variety of microbes, in today's more sterile and industrialized farm production, fish are exposed to fewer bacteria.
Previwo's research has shown that early exposure to beneficial bacteria can help strengthen the health of fish throughout their life cycle; therefore, in the case of Stembiont, the probiotic solution is added to the fish through a bath treatment at the smolt stage.
As WeAreAquaculture has previously reported, Andfjord Salmon's land-based facility uses a flow-through system drawing seawater from the deep, which provides stable production conditions and limits exposure to external environmental factors such as parasites, algae, and jellyfish.
The company's technology and operating model have been developed aiming to replicate and optimize the salmon's natural habitat, while capitalizing on the advantages of both land-based and sea-based aquaculture. This new collaboration agreement is another step in that strategy.
"We continuously work to stay at the forefront of fish health and welfare. In line with increasing production, it is crucial to be proactive and adopt documented solutions that provide the most optimal biological conditions possible," said COO of Andfjord Salmon, Christian Halmøy Torgersen.
"With Stembiont, we gain an important tool for ensuring the best possible starting conditions for the smolt," he added. "Good fish health and welfare are the foundation of both sustainable operations and premium product quality. This is an area where we make no compromises," Torgersen concluded.
For his part, the CEO of Previwo, Lars Kristian Bredahl, claimed that Andfjord Salmon represents an important part of the future of aquaculture. "Andfjord demonstrates how new technology and biological understanding can be combined to create both excellent fish health and solid profitability," he said.
"The fact that Andfjord Salmon chooses to integrate probiotics into its production underscores the company's ambition to remain at the very forefront of sustainability and innovation," he added.
This is the second fish health-related collaboration the company has recently signed. Previously this month, the Norwegian land-based salmon producer also announced a commercial partnership with Scottish aquaculture biotechnology firm WellFish Tech.
Under this agreement, WellFish Tech will implement its WellFish Predict monitoring program in active cohorts at Andfjord's production facility in Kvalnes.
With the aim of giving the Andfjord team biological data that can be used in conjunction with existing environmental and operational monitoring systems, the program will provide blood biomarker analysis, predictive mortality modelling, and gill health prediction.
In line with the statements made now by the company's COO, Christian Halmøy Torgersen, at the time of the agreement's signing with WellFish Tech, the CEO of Andfjord Salmon, Martin Rasmussen, said: "We have always believed that good outcomes for fish health are inseparable from good outcomes for the business."
